I watched it with my husband who was anxious but game and he liked it too while he commented that he could have lived without the initial sex scene which of course is what people will talk about. I found that scene pivotal, the unexpected and almost violent way they expressed thier feeling and stuffed them down. Ledger was amazing, the range of feelings he conveyed with such pitifully small dialogue was a perfect as a repressed cowboy. Jake as Jack was also gifted and rang true to both my husband and I who live in cowboy country where the culture still makes it nearly impossible for gay men to be accepted. In 1960 sorry those of you who think this was a relationship that would have worked are very optimistic.

My husband found the movie and how where you live and the community you live defines men. The connection to the land, and the western culture, the male mystique made the film more universal than most straight men will ever give theirselves a chance to realize. Too bad for them.

It presents itself as a symbol of this country, and the metaphors are about the death of the American West over time, specifcially from the 50s through the 70s. The poverty, the idea that you live can live in a beautiful setting and be isolated and alone and return to a more opressive restrictive culture, aka the American West in the 60s. It questions what is real for you. It questions who’s really repressing who? Are the character’s being repressed by society or are they just afraid of themselves? Neither one of these characters are “cowboys.” They are poor ranch hands trying to pretend to be more than they are and to get ahead when they have nothing. It’s symbolic on many levels, not just because they are gay and living in a certain time period. The author of the story used that generation and location to further the story.

could it be to show that the cruel prejudices and dysfunctional actions adults expose children to actually end up being internalized for many, as well as setting up a prisoner that a damaged and confused character like “ennis” can’t get out of his head?

Do you really think Ang Lee included it to show “this couldn’t happen anymore?” when matthew shepherd was murdered in wyoming, the setting of this story?

Shortchanging key things like that might be the real reason the movie didn’t work for you emotionally, though it seemed to for everybody else.

And enough, enough with the hipster straight guys who make a big point out of saying the gay part isn’t a problem for them in the film…but then simply got to get in the crude jokes about those ‘hooters”. “Really I’m cool with this, really I am!” It just gets all so tiring. It’s not bigoted, etc. I’m calling you…it’s just really, really cliche.

[LYT responds: Gee Tom, did I say I love watching anal sex? No. You may be confusing me with other reviewers you've read. I acknowledged that I had not much interest in it in the beginning, but hooters got my attention, and the rest of the movie was fine too. Do you want my honest opinion, however crude, or you want a PC one? If the latter, go someplace else -- I review every movie this way, as you'll see if you look around a bit. Seems to me most other reviewers did give it the PC version (not to mention their Best Film of the Year award), so I don't know who all these cliched straight reviewers you're talking about are. But then, I live in Hollywood, among critics and many gay people.
And since you're certain Ang Lee's aware of Matthew Shepard and such, do you have a better explanation as to why this is a period piece? Nothing else about the story necessitates it. Finally, if you'd like to see a gay reviewer make nearly the same points I have, cut and paste the link below:

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/10342237/

I wrote mine first, though]

Even if they won’t tell their friends they saw it, or even admit that they enjoyed it.

Honestly, it’s lame to think that in the year 2005, most grown men will be more terrified of EVEN THE IDEA OF SEEING Brokeback Mountain than the worst, most violent movies like Saw 2 or The Devils Rejects.

This is sad. Open your minds guys. Doesn’t mean you’re queer. Just normal like everyone else.

The other day my (just 13 year old) daughter said, “Mom, does it make you uncomfortable to watch men kiss men, cause I kinda get uncomfortable when I see it?” I asked her if she has been seeing it a lot? She was watching a “Degrassi High” DVD, which is her favorite show, and I guess there was a thread with two boys who weren’t out yet to their families and it showed them kissing. I told her sometimes yeah, it was uncomfortable to watch. But sometimes not, it depended on the movie/show and the context. We talked about how it is rare to see it, and that may be why. This is a kid who has just gotten over saying ewwww when watching any kissing, so maybe it’ll be integrated into her visual vocabulary in a way that it hasn’t been for her elders.

Can’t wait to see the movie.